A Day at the Beach

It’s been hot here. Even before the BC wildfires enhazened our skies, it was hot and kind of miserable. So, we went to the coast. To get to the Washington coast from Seattle, you have to drive around the Puget Sound, and that takes some time. Believe it or not, I’ve never done this; I’ve never been to Washington’s coast, except for right on the border with Oregon. This was not to be the trip to break that trend because we went to the beach of my childhood – Seaside, Oregon.

First we had to leave The Island. Since we were going south, we did the Talequah crossing into Tacoma. There’s a great view of Mt. Rainier on this route, and the skies were clear that day. Here’s a morning shot of our beloved mountain from the water.

The drive from Seattle to Portland is peaceful, if a bit predictable. We stayed at my parents’ house in Fairview for the night and headed out early the next morning for the Oregon coast, which is a straight shot.

To my surprise, it was hot on the beach. In fact, I found myself calling it the beach instead of the coast. It was actually sunny and hot on the Oregon coast at Seaside. Which is why this shot of Claire was a little tricky.

It was right around noon, so the light was intense, and the shadows were harsh. This was one of the few times I used my popup flash for something other than to control other flashes. Fill flash saved the day here. Also, Seaside Beach is big and roomy. There were plenty of people there that day, but we were all spread out pretty good. This desolate-looking image was made possible by using the widest angle lens I had available. It makes Claire look like she’s the only person in the world.

One of my primary goals for this quick trip was to introduce Tommy to kite-flying. As far as I know, he’d never even seen a kite before, much less flown one. I figured I could buy something anywhere in town, and I was right. But, man, was that thing ever cheap. It wouldn’t have lasted another few minutes in the air. It eventually did disintegrate, but we were able to have a good time long enough before that. Tommy got to fly a kite for the first time in his life.

He loved it! He loved the whole experience, and I think he even enjoyed letting go of the string so his mother would have to run and chase it. The rest of the day included bumper cars, a carousel ride, saltwater taffy, a trip to the Tillamook Creamery and a visit to Cannon Beach. After a fabulous dinner at Mo’s I really wanted to get out to Ecola State Park to capture the great sunset scenery that is there. The idea isn’t to capture the sunset itself, but rather the view back on the beach in the sunset light. A few things went wrong.

One, the best lookout points were closed off due to recent storms and the erosion caused thereby. The other issue was the cloud-cover. There’d been no clouds the entire day, but now we had a thick layer right at the horizon that blocked all of that gorgeous sunset light. By the time I got out to the best lookout I could reach, I’d missed my only chance to get the shot I’d been hoping for. To twist the knife a little, Gabbie informed me that I’d just missed some great light. All I got was this crummy shot of Cannon Beach:

You can see areas where the sunset light is trying to get through, but mostly it was flat light. To make up for my disappointment at missing the really good light, I took one last picture of Claire.